After nearly 40 miles of racing, the SCCA lists the official margin of victory at 0.000 seconds. The contest? This past weekend’s Spec Miata title race at the SCCA National Championship Runoffs.
After the usual Spec Miata excitement–including a 40-odd-minute delay to fix the barrier after a first-lap crash–Preston Pardus (on the right) and Nicholas Bruni crossed the Virginia International Raceway …
Not that close, but when Curmudgeon and I both ran E-Mod in autocross I lost to him by .007. Probably the most fun I've ever had at an autocross.
.000 is pretty impressive.
Yes, at a rallycross, EvanB and I had the exact same time. Winner was decided by who had the fewest cones.
In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :
That’s pretty darn close.
First, that's really cool they did that.
I've lost at autocross by .001 before.
Does this mean that SCCA T&S needs to add one more decimal to its timing system?
I didn't realize that dead heats were super rare in auto racing. Makes sense with the degree of timing accuracy.
In horse racing, we time to 1/5 second, but the photo finishes are much more precise.
For one-car-at-a-time competition–autocross, rallycross, time trial, etc.–I can see it happening. But when putting cars side by side on a road course?
FWIW, closest NASCAR Cup finish is 0.002 second with Ricky Craven beating Kurt Busch at Darlington in 2003.
thats unreal
Spec Miata? Did the winner have the fewest dents?
triumph7 said:Spec Miata? Did the winner have the fewest dents?
They were surprisingly tame. The winners slightly touched coming down to the finish.......they were both trying to side draft.
They were both deserving as they displayed great sportsmanship in the interviews.
My Miata and Ed Malle's turbo LS Foxbody tied for 2nd in the autocross at the 2017 Challenge. The drag strip wasn't a tie .
It makes sense that they would need to use cameras on any very-close wheel-to-wheel finish, as speed differentials and mounting distance from the nose would create a slight error between the transponder time and when the nose actually crosses the line between the two cars. This isn't a problem for one car at a time.
Although is it really a 'margin of victory' if neither beat the other?
In reply to David S. Wallens :
I think the closest I've had in wheel to wheel racing is about half a wheel length on a motorcycle........I think that works out to around .005
David S. Wallens said:For one-car-at-a-time competition–autocross, rallycross, time trial, etc.–I can see it happening. But when putting cars side by side on a road course?
FWIW, closest NASCAR Cup finish is 0.002 second with Ricky Craven beating Kurt Busch at Darlington in 2003.
HAVE YOU EVER?!
Note to self: Apply for patent on bumper-mounted transponder catapult.
Will said:David S. Wallens said:For one-car-at-a-time competition–autocross, rallycross, time trial, etc.–I can see it happening. But when putting cars side by side on a road course?
FWIW, closest NASCAR Cup finish is 0.002 second with Ricky Craven beating Kurt Busch at Darlington in 2003.
HAVE YOU EVER?!
There's a dad joke in there somewhere. They were nearly Tide.
Will said:HAVE YOU EVER?!
NO, I'VE NEVER!
On at least two occasions I've had autocross runs end with the exact same time, blew my mind to see it. I mean, I figure when we're talking thousandths of a second here, the chances of getting exact identical times are about like getting struck by lightning...
Cool to see that happen in a race between two different drivers though, and at the finish? That's right up there with the 2016 Indy 500.
Yes.
At the dragstrip twice. One was a flat 0.000 margin, and we guess the timing equipment rounded because it picked a winner.
The other the dragstrip actually showed the winner losing by 0.001 if you did the math. A sheepish looking friend of my Dad's who was bad at math, asked me after the race to look over his timing ticket, at age 16. We went to the tower together to explain and ask. They were polite, but it sure was strange.
In reply to David S. Wallens :
as the TV commercial said,
"you can race for hundreds and hundreds of miles all day long, and then just win by inches"
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